


But you can keep me right here, in the comfort of the quiet

by theyoungv_eins



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Aaron's POV, Fluff, I don't know how to tag this;;, M/M, Maybe a bit disjointed and might not make as much sense as I hope??, Maybe a bit of HAND HOLDING?, POV Second Person, Post-episode (23rd Jan 2017), some kisses, thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-24
Updated: 2017-01-24
Packaged: 2018-09-19 16:30:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9450365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theyoungv_eins/pseuds/theyoungv_eins
Summary: You can feel it everywhere. In your lungs, your throat, the soles of your feet. It’s in your chest – this gentle warmth that wraps itself around you and refuses to let go, no matter how hard you try to fight it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written in second person before! How exciting. Been meaning to for a while now and I only just remembered it was possible. Apologies if it's a little jumbled or if I accidentally slip back into third person. I don't think it's like that, but I'm not entirely sure.   
> I've just finished this and it's 1 am where I am, so this isn't beta'd.
> 
> The title is from [Snow on Higher Ground by Keegan Joyce](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1HNexdH7dk). Lovely song by a lovely boyyy

The only thing that makes sense in your mind in this moment is your hand on Robert’s thigh, your lips on his, and your knees pressed together.

Robert’s hand is slowly edging closer to yours. You can feel his fingers ghosting over your skin, and then pressing into it. Fingertips drag against your knuckles, press gently against the bones in your hand. You turn your hand over and he slots his fingers into the spaces between yours. It’s both of your left hands, so it’s uncomfortable with the engagement rings, but you hold on tight.

All thoughts of GBH charges, Finn and his big gob, court dates, and the possibility going to jail are out of your mind. Forgotten, just for a little while, because all that matters is the look Robert gave you after he pulled away from the first kiss. It’s that look of pure _love_ he gives you sometimes, and it takes your breath away. You can feel it everywhere. In your lungs, your throat, the soles of your feet. It’s in your chest – this gentle warmth that wraps itself around you and refuses to let go, no matter how hard you try to fight it. Robert’s love is in every cell, every _atom_ of your body, and it isn’t going anywhere.

When he looks at you like that, you stop worrying. For once, the horrible little voice in the back of your mind telling you _you’re not good enough_ , _he won’t stay_ , _you can’t be happy,_ shuts up. Because you will be happy. You _are_ happy, if only just in this moment. You hang on to the feeling; lock it up inside your chest and throw away the key.

You hope that the look you give him back has the same effect. You want to be the one who always takes his breath away. The one who fills him up with so much love and warmth and happiness. The one who makes him feel like he’s important and loved.

You hope he knows that you’re truly happy to be here with him.

It’ll be hard, but you’ll do anything to prove to him that you won’t give up on him, that what you have together is one of the most important things in the world to you. You’ll do anything to return the love that Robert gives you, because you know he’d do anything for you, too.

You know it’s forever, because it always has been. If there’s one thing that neither of you can do very well, it’s stay away from each other. There have been more declarations of “ _we’re over_ ” than you can count on one hand, and yet you’re both still here with each other. You’ve been through so much hurt to get to where you are now, but you wouldn’t change it for anything. You’d do it all in a heartbeat, because no matter how anxious, doubtful, or jealous you get, you love him. What you have now is worth everything a million times over, because Robert has given you the kind of love and devotion you didn’t believe in until now. He’s given you more than you could ever repay, and sometimes that worries you. Sometimes you think it’s not fair, because you can’t give anything back.

Except you can. And you have. You know that, because he tells you as much. Tells you how happy he is that he has you and Liv – _a proper little family_ , he says. He tells you with words and lips and eyes and hands how much you mean to him.

_What we have. You and me; it’s special. It’s the most important thing in the world to me._

_I’ve never felt like this before. For anyone._

_I love you. Only you._

But you still always want to give him more, because you’re scared that, someday, it won’t be enough. _You_ won’t be enough, because you’ve hardly ever felt like you are with Robert. Especially now, with Rebecca in the village, because she’s everything you’re not. She’s got money, she’s gorgeous. She’s a _woman_ , and she could give Robert anything he could ever want.

But Rebecca isn’t marrying Robert. She isn’t sitting here right now, in the dark of the pub, holding Robert’s hand. She isn’t kissing him, and it isn’t her that Robert wants.

She could give him anything he could ever want, but Robert still wants you. No matter how hard it is for you to wrap your head around it sometimes, you know it’s true. He may still be a bit of a git, but he’s changed for you. He’s had so many chances to just leave you, or go and find what he can’t get from you somewhere else. But he hasn’t. (You refuse to listen to the _not yet_ ever-present in the back of your mind, but you know it’s always there.)

But Rebecca isn’t important right now (Or ever, if you have anything to say about it). What’s important is Robert’s free hand coming up to cup your jaw. It changes, then, from slow, lingering kisses, to open-mouthed and heated. Robert’s tongue against yours as he pulls you a little bit closer. His hand stays where it is on your jaw, keeping you where you are when you take a moment to breathe a little. He presses kisses to the side of your mouth, your cheek, your jaw. Anywhere he can until you’re chasing his lips again. You almost think that it’ll go further for a moment (Chas would kill you both for getting it on in her pub), but Robert pulls back before you can even think about climbing into his lap.

When you open your eyes, you’re met with Robert looking at you with heavy-lidded eyes. You know how tired he’s been because of you recently ( _I mean, literally. I can’t do it_ ). He’s been so tired from it all that he almost left you. Guilt curls in your stomach until you feel sick with it.

“Alright?” Robert asks. His thumb runs over your cheekbone, gentle. Robert being gentle with you is still somewhat new. You’re still taken aback by it sometimes, because it was hardly ever like this when he was still with Chrissie. It’s almost hard to believe that this is the same person. He really has changed since they first started.

“Yeah,” you tell him, barely a whisper. “Will be.”

He smiles, and it’s one of those genuine ones that reaches his eyes – one of your favourite things in the world. You fall in love a little more and find yourself smiling back. A smile just as real.

“Finish your pint and come upstairs with me.”

You don’t have to suggest it twice – Robert downs the rest of his drink in one go. After locking up properly, you let him take you by the hand and lead you upstairs to your bedroom.

Robert lets you undress him ( _Don’t just leave my clothes on the floor like that. Christ, Aaron!)_ and get him into bed, and you let him wrap himself around you and press kisses into the back of your neck. You let him press his love, in the form of words and lips and hands, into your skin.

You’re still scared half to death of what might happen after today, but it’s a little easier to forget with Robert right beside you every step of the way.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! And for comments and kudos and bookmarks and all that good stuff. It makes me really happy! And a special thanks to those of you - if any - who subscribe to my work, or have gone back and read my previous Robron fics. You're the best!  
> Come find me on Tumblr [@aarondingl-e](http://aarondingl-e.tumblr.com) if you want to send me prompts or just to say hi! I'm always up for making new pals.
> 
> <3


End file.
